Black reality still difficult in America

Published 5:57 pm, Tuesday, July 23, 2013

President Barack Obama made an impromptu address to the nation recently on the dialogue we need to have in our communities about race relations in America. I also think it is telling that President Obama described this as a discussion of race and not a discussion about diversity.

While diversity is tremendously important, the elephant in the room is the historic and unresolved relationship between whites and blacks, and more important, institutions of business, government and society in general and blacks.

In his remarks, he noted 35 years ago, he could have been Trayvon Martin. His remarks reminded me of several incidents that make it possible for me to say that I, too, could have been Trayvon Martin.

I share these personal stories not in an attempt to gain any sympathy from anyone. I tell these personal vignettes not to engender any feelings of guilt in those who had nothing to do with these personal trials and tribulations. I recall these painfully true stories not to establish my solidarity with my unfortunate brothers who have experienced far worse than I have. I share these realities because they are seared into my personal memories that tie me to the collective experiences of far too many black Americans.

It was 1983 and I was about to receive my Ph.D in economics from Yale University. I had also received a $195,000 grant from the Commonwealth Fund of New York to continue my research in allied health and physician labor markets. With this soon to be awarded degree and my money from the Commonwealth Fund, I was being recruited by Georgetown University, Hunter College and Brandeis University to join their faculties. So I was invited down to meet Dr. Donna Shalala, then president of Hunter College in New York City. Dr. Shalala was later to become the U.S. secretary of health and human services under President Bill Clinton.

While working on my Ph.D, I had established a business buying beautiful Turkana bags and baskets from Kenya and Coptic rugs from Ethiopia. This business, Afritrade, was established when it was not clear that I wanted to pursue graduate education. So I traveled to East Africa in 1981 in search of products to market to U.S. customers. Some of these bags I had sold to a boutique in Greenwich Village in New York. Here is where these seemingly disparate stories come together.

Unfortunately, the owner of the boutique in Greenwich Village was robbed and murdered. In the investigation of the crime, the detectives on the case went through her accounts payable and discovered that the owner owed me and Afritrade about $200 for some bags. I received a call soon after the crime from the NYC detectives asking if I knew about the crime. I informed them that I had seen the news of the crime and that I felt bad for her family.

They very politely asked if I could come down to NYC to talk them some more. They said anything that I might know might be helpful in the investigation. I shared with them I had an appointment with Dr. Shalala in about a week and could come down to their lower Manhattan precinct after that meeting.

The interview with Dr. Shalala went great, so I hopped on a train and headed down to the precinct. When I got to the station, they asked be to go into a small room where two officers, one white and one black, began asking me some general questions about my business and business relationship with the deceased owner. Then, almost imperceptibly, the tone of their questions changed from professional to accusatory. I asked what was going on and their response was that a black man had been seen running from the store after the murder and that I fit the description. They added that I had a motive. Dumbfounded, I asked what could possibly be my motive. They responded by saying she owed me $200. And from this point on, they informed me, I was one of the prime suspects for the crime.

At that point, I said I had nothing further to say to them.

They informed me that I needed to provide a solid alibi on my whereabouts at the time of the crime in order to be removed from the list of suspects. And that without an alibi, they were going to ask me to take a lie-detector test. One of the detectives knew all about my education, my impending degree, which to him seemed to make my arrest all the more interesting. Maybe a feather in his cap. He said he could see the cover of the New York Times, "African-American Ph.D Candidate from Yale Arrested for Murder."

In a state of semi shock, I began thinking how I was going to prove my innocence of murder three weeks from receiving my Ph.D. I figured out that I had phone records showing calls from my apartment on the day of the murder. All I had to do now is find those old telephone bills. I did find those bills. I made copies and sent them to the detectives whose cards they had provided during my interview/interrogation. I never heard back from them.

Fast forward to 2000. By now I had started another business. This one, Advanced Dispensing Systems, was based on a patented invention Bill Lytle and I had developed to solve some problems in the marketing of whole bean gourmet coffee in retail stores. We had put together a nice business. We had obtained a SBA loan from First Union Bank for several hundred thousand dollars. The business ran into trouble and our loan was called.

The loan was secured several times over with assets Mr. Lytle and I had pledged. Yet, First Union, instead of being satisfied that they had no real risk because of the security, froze all of my assets. I learned of this unfortunate event while shopping at the local market and suddenly my debit card was no longer honored. It took over two weeks for First Union to release my assets after we made them whole for the full amount of the loan. During that period, my checks bounced and anger mounted.

I could tell more stories, but I want to end with one more recent. Three weeks ago, early one morning after going to the Boston Sports Club in the Prudential Center Mall in Boston, I was walking through that mall headed back to my office in Copley Place. It was still early, so the stores had yet to open. I had dropped off my suit jacket and tie in my office before going to the gym.

So on the way back I was dressed in just suit pants and dress shirt and my gym bag. Before reaching the escalator to my office, a woman security guard of the mall, whom I have spoken to on numerous occasions, stopped me and, surprisingly, asked me where I was going. In somewhat disbelief, I asked her did she recognize me? She said no and asked again about my destination. I then informed her I worked in the mall. She continued with "where?" This time I gave her all of my information. Satisfied, she moved on.

Being accused of murder is not in the same league as being questioned about the appropriateness of your being in a luxury mall, or being foreclosed on in an inappropriate and unprofessional way, but these are the common examples blacks, regardless of station, sometimes face. They are maddening, disrespectful and discriminatory. Yet I have nothing but love in my heart for all. This really is not about the people as much as it is about institutions, laws and the application of laws.

Through it all, I remain hopeful that my son, with 10 years of dreadlocks, will not experience what I had to go through. While some might argue that race had nothing to do with any of these incidents, I beg to differ. I believe President Obama is correct in saying that with each generation we are improving in this complex and perplexing problem. Yet each generation also must commit to equality of opportunity and an end to discrimination. We still have much to do.

I am honored to be in a position here at the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council to try to make business relationships between and among all races and ethnicities better. I agree with the president that we must work at strengthening race relationships actively for the benefit of all.

Fred W. McKinney, Ph.D, is president of the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council. The council is a not-for-profit organization based in Bridgeport whose mission is to significantly increase procurement opportunities for certified minority business enterprises.